ISLAMABAD, March 23: The Central Board of Revenue (CBR) is considering to bring more items under the net of 15 per cent general sales tax (GST) from next financial year. Well-placed sources told Dawn that the board was considering to extent the levy of 15pc GST on bricks, cement blocks, computer hardware and software, specific machinery and real estate in the budget of 2005-06. The CBR is also considering to impose 15pc GST on all services except residential rent and health, education and financial services, once the administration of the current tax-base has been suitably stabilized.

According to the sources, the collection on domestic sales tax was constantly on decline during the current financial year as most of the GST was raised from few items.

The tax authorities are contemplating various proposals to realize maximum revenue by expanding the scope of GST to more items.

Tax analyst said that the levy of GST on these items was not practical, which they believed would cause harm to end consumers and adversely affect production of these items.

Elaborating further, they said that bricks and cement blocks industry employed a number of people in rural areas and levy of GST on the sector would not only result in unemployment but also hamper construction activities.

Rejecting the levy of GST on computer hardware and software, the tax experts said that this would cause prices of these items to shoot up immediately, thereby undermining government efforts to promote information technology in the country.